Royals hitters have fared well against struggling Freddy

Published 10:00 pm, Tuesday, May 20, 2003

Second baseman Bret Boone, a big proponent of the Mariners' defensive abilities, scoops up a first-inning bunt attempt by Kansas City's Michael Tucker.

Second baseman Bret Boone, a big proponent of the Mariners' defensive abilities, scoops up a first-inning bunt attempt by Kansas City's Michael Tucker.

Photo: Scott Eklund/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Mariners Notebook: Gut check for Garcia

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

The last time Freddy Garcia pitched in Safeco Field, he was booed as he walked off the field.

It was a rare occurrence, but Garcia's day against the New York Yankees -- he failed to get out of the third inning -- was itself a rare pounding.

Garcia, who owned a 3-0 lead at the time, gave up nine of the 10 runs the Yankees scored that inning.

He came back last week in Cleveland and took another loss, although the beating wasn't as severe. He was touched for seven runs (four earned) in six innings against the Indians in the only loss the Mariners took on a six-game road trip through Cleveland and Detroit.

Tonight, he's scheduled to face the Kansas City Royals, a team that has a history of feasting on his pitches.

"The team he faces doesn't matter," Melvin said. "What matters is that he goes out and pitches well and has some success. It would be one thing if this were his first time in the big leagues. But this is a guy who was 60-29 after his first four seasons.

"He's in uncharted waters. He hasn't struggled like this before, but he can pitch through it."

Matching Garcia against the Royals might not seem the optimum plan for success, but at this point, Melvin says it doesn't matter what team Garcia faces. It only matters that Garcia finds success and rediscovers his confidence. That's the way to eliminate the boos.

The expectation in the Mariners clubhouse is Garcia is good enough to overcome the bad pitches, the bad luck and the lapses of concentration -- eventually. Whether he does so tonight is impossible to predict.

As they say, that's why they play the games.

The Royals are 4-3 lifetime against Garcia, and he has a 5.36 career earned-run average against them, his second-worst ERA against any AL club. Former Mariner Raul Ibanez has eight hits in 10 trips against him (.800). Center fielder Carlos Beltran is 10-for-21 (.476). First baseman Mike Sweeney is 11-for-24 (.458). That's a lot of hitting.

Mariners hitting coach Lamar Johnson was in the same position with the Royals the past few years, and he remembers.

"We always did pretty good against Freddy," Johnson said, "and that's a good fastball-hitting team. To me, what that says is he got behind, and those guys got some fastballs to hit."

It will be up to Garcia not to give those three many juicy fastballs. But Garcia hasn't really had trouble getting geared up for the thunder sticks. His problems have been elsewhere.

In nine starts this year, the 3-4-5 hitters have hit just .212 against Garcia. The 7-8-9 hitters, typically the weakest in the lineup, have hit .343 against him.

That lends credence to talk that Garcia loses focus on the mound.

He can't afford to have mistakes undermine his focus or his concentration.

"A little success will build up his confidence. It's not that he doesn't have confidence. He does. But as with everybody, sometimes it's less than at other times."

This is one of those times.

GLOVE TALK: Yes, the Mariners are second in the league in pitching and fifth in runs scored.

That doesn't tell the whole tale.

"This is the best defensive team I've ever played for," second baseman Bret Boone said. "This is the best defensive team I've ever seen."

And for Boone, that's saying something.

"I came into the season thinking we were going to be pretty good," he said. "Even so, I've been impressed by what we've done defensively. It's a big reason for our success.

"Pitchers will have slumps. Hitters won't always hit. But you can count on defense. To me, this is the same as 2001. The key is that we make less mistakes than the opponents. And the result is that in close games, we've got a better chance to win."

The infield has a couple of Gold Glove winners in Boone and first baseman John Olerud. But it is the outfield of left fielder Randy Winn, center fielder Mike Cameron and right fielder Ichiro Suzuki that makes Boone's jaw drop. Plays like Winn's three running catches and Ichiro's bullet throw from right field in the eighth inning to nail the Royals' Mike Sweeney at second base last night take his breath away.

"If you get anything in the air against those guys, they're going to get underneath it," Boone said. "They are awesome to watch."

Melvin looks at the defense, currently ranked first in both fielding percentage and fewest errors, as a safety net.

"As a manager, I've got a real sense of security knowing what this defense is capable of," Melvin said. "When I was with Arizona (as bench coach the past two years), we were first or second in defense as well.

"But overall this might be a better defensive team."

TEAM TURNAROUND: Former Mariner Raul Ibanez is wearing a huge smile these days.

Well, that's nothing new. Ibanez always has been one smilin' dude. Now the Royals are giving him reason to smile. They came into last night just one-half game out of first place in the AL Central.

"This is so different from last year (100 losses) that you can't even believe it," Ibanez said before hitting two homers in the Royals' 7-4 loss to the Mariners. "This is a whole lot of fun. Last year was tough."

The Royals got out to starts of 9-0 and 16-3 and came into last night with the sixth-best winning percentage in the American League.

"To me, this team is a lot like Minnesota was a few years ago," Ibanez said, comparing the Royals' sudden return to prominence to that of the 2001 Twins. "We've got some great young pitching here and good young players, too.

"We've got some learning to do, but we've got some talent, too."

LATE SWITCH: Runelvys Hernandez, the Royals' top starter at 4-3 with a 2.79 ERA, was supposed to start last night. But the Royals made Hernandez a late scratch, going instead with lefty Darrell May.

Hernandez suffered some elbow pain in his last start and was walking around the Kansas City clubhouse last night with his right elbow wrapped in ice.

The Royals are hoping Hernandez misses just one start and will be able to make his next turn. The Mariners are hoping the same thing -- Hernandez's next start would be Sunday in Oakland against the A's, the club chasing Seattle in the AL West.

NOTES: Seattle's five-game winning streak matches the longest by the club this year. The Mariners won five in succession from April 20-25. ... Ichiro stretched his hitting streak to 11 games with a second-inning single, driving in a run in the process. The streak ties the longest this year by a Mariner, Dan Wilson having done it earlier. ... With a shutout seventh inning last night, Shigetoshi Hasegawa has not allowed a run in 11 consecutive games covering 11 innings. ... Although starter Ryan Franklin got another no-decision last night, the Mariners are 7-2 in his nine starts. ... Seattle is 14-4 when opponents start left-handed pitchers. ... The Mariners will have another countdown to 2,000 this season. First baseman John Olerud came into last night with 1,974 hits in his career. Edgar Martinez reached 2,000 hits this month.